Crown Jewel (2019)
Crown Jewel (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on October 31, 2019 at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was the 4th event under the WWE in Saudi Arabia under their 10 year agreement, and the 2nd in the WWE Crown Jewel chronology. Production Background In early 2018, the WWE began a 10-year strategic multi-platform partnership with the General Sports Authority in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. The first event under this new partnership, the Greatest Royal Rumble, was held at the King Abdullah Sports City's King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah on April 27. In September, a followup titled Crown Jewel was announced to be held on November 2. Storylines The show will include matches resulting from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. On the September 30, 2019 episode of Raw, WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair were guests on "Miz TV". After the two teased a match between each other, The Miz announced that at Crown Jewel, there would be a 5-on-5 tag team match between Team Hogan and Team Flair, with Hogan and Flair as the respective coaches. Universal Champion Seth Rollins and Randy Orton were selected as the captains of Team Hogan and Team Flair, respectively. Later, Rusev joined Team Hogan while King Corbin joined Team Flair. On the October 14 episode of Raw, Ricochet was added to Team Hogan, while Bobby Lashley and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura were added to Team Flair. That same episode, Rollins was scheduled to defend his Universal Championship at the event and was subsequently removed from the tag team match. On the October 18 edition of Smackdown, Hogan announced that Ali and Shorty Gable will be added to the team and Roman Reigns will replace Rollins as the team captain. On the September 30 episode of Raw, Brock Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman interrupted an in-ring promo by Rey Mysterio. Lesnar proceeded to brutally attack Mysterio as well as Mysterio's son, Dominik, who was seated in the front row. After Lesnar defeated Kofi Kingston to win the WWE Championship on SmackDown's 20th Anniversary that Friday, Mysterio along with former Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) mixed martial artist Cain Velasquez appeared, making his WWE debut. Velasquez, the man who defeated Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Championship by technical knockout in 2010 at UFC 121, entered the ring and attacked Lesnar. Lesnar managed to escape and retreated. In a backstage interview, Velasquez stated he came to extract revenge from Lesnar for what he did to Mysterio and Dominik, who was later revealed to be Velasquez's godson. At the Crown Jewel press conference in Las Vegas on October 11, it was announced that Lesnar would defend the WWE Championship against Velasquez at Crown Jewel. During SmackDown's 20th Anniversary on October 4, Braun Strowman taunted professional boxer Tyson Fury, who was seated in the front row. After Strowman's match, Fury jumped the barricade only to be restrained by security. On the following Raw, Fury appeared, wanting an apology from Strowman. Strowman said he was just messing around on SmackDown until Fury seemed to indicate that he wanted to fight. After exchanging verbal insults, a massive brawl broke out between the two that had to be separated by security and other wrestlers. At the Crown Jewel press conference in Las Vegas on October 11, it was announced that Strowman would face Fury at Crown Jewel. At Hell in a Cell, the Universal Championship Hell in a Cell match between defending champion Seth Rollins and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt ended by referee stoppage, thus Rollins retained. The Fiend, thought to be injured, proceeded to further attack Rollins after the match. On the October 11 episode of SmackDown (the first night of the 2019 WWE Draft), a match between Rollins (representing Raw) and Roman Reigns (representing SmackDown) was scheduled to determine which brand would earn the first draft pick of the night. Rollins won by disqualification due to The Fiend's interference, also earning Raw the first draft pick; The Fiend was later drafted to SmackDown. Although Rollins was drafted to Raw on the second night of the draft, a championship rematch between Rollins and The Fiend was scheduled for Crown Jewel as a Falls Count Anywhere match. That same night, Wyatt as his normal self hosted a segment of Firefly Fun House, but it was interrupted by Rollins, who appeared inside the fun house, attacked Wyatt, and set the fun house ablaze. At Super ShowDown, NXT's Mansoor, a Saudi native, won WWE's largest standard battle royal. On October 14, a match between Mansoor and Cesaro was scheduled for Crown Jewel. On the October 14 episode of Raw, WWE's largest tag team turmoil match in WWE history was scheduled for Crown Jewel with the winning team receiving the WWE World Cup and being called "the best tag team in the world". Nine teams were announced for the match: The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods), Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker), Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado, Gran Metalik, and/or Kalisto), Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, The O.C. (United States Champion AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and/or Karl Anderson), Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, The B-Team (Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas), SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder), and Raw Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar). On October 23 on WWE The Bump, a 20-man battle royal was scheduled for the Crown Jewel Kickoff show, with the winner receiving a title match against United States Champion AJ Styles, later that night. On October 30 at the Crown Jewel Media Press Conference, a match between Natalya and Lacey Evans was announced for Crown Jewel, making it the first ever women's match in Saudi Arabia. Aftermath Matches * Order of elimination: Drake Maverick, Heath Slater, Tony Nese, The Brian Kendrick, Eric Young, Mojo Rawley, Sin Cara, Titus O'Neil, No Way Jose, Akira Tozawa, Shelton Benjamin, Apollo Crews, Buddy Murphy, R-Truth, Andrade, Sunil Singh, Cedric Alexander and Luke Harper Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Crown Jewel * WWE in Saudi Arabia Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2019 Pay-Per-View Events Category:WWE in Saudi Arabia